ST HELENS snooker professional Wayne Brown sent Steve Davis crashing out of the £440,000 Regal Welsh Open.

It came only a day after the six-times former world champion had started his 23rd professional season with a whitewash. Brown - resident professional at The Beer Engine in Poolstock - beat Davis 5-1 to qualify for the final stages in Cardiff next January, a crushing defeat for Davis who had beaten Mark Selby 5-0 on Monday to make the perfect start to the new campaign.

"I saw him play Mark and he overpowered him", Brown said. "He did a real number on him, but I wasn't going to get into that sort of game. This is the best win of my career. Steve might not quite be the force he was but it's still always nice to beat him. I wasn't intimidated by him, in fact I was more nervous playing my first match".

Brown won a tentative opener with a run of 55 and pieced together a break of 112 to lead 2-0. Davis won the third frame with breaks of 45 and 36, but Brown fired in contributions of 81 and 76 to take a 4-1 lead, and clinched victory by clearing from last three reds to black in the sixth.